Context: India was not included in the original launch of the arrangement for cooperation on semiconductors, critical minerals, AI; Gor ‘takes charge’ of U.S. Embassy with music and fanfare, says both countries continue to actively engage over trade deal.
- India will be invited to join “Pax Silica”, the U.S.-led eight-nation arrangement to cooperate on semiconductors, critical minerals, and artificial intelligence, next month, incoming U.S. Ambassador Sergio Gor announced on Monday. He added that both countries hoped to make progress on long-delayed trade negotiations soon.
- Mr. Gor, who is yet to present his credentials to President Droupadi Murmu, projected a positive outlook for India-U.S. ties after months of tensions over trade, tariffs, and India’s import of Russian oil.
- “The United States and India are bound not just by shared interests, but by relationship anchored at the highest levels,” Mr. Gor said in an unprecedented “arrival speech”, delivered with much fanfare from the steps of the U.S. Embassy on Shantipath in Delhi.
- “Real friends can disagree but always resolve their differences in the end,” he added. He said the two sides “continue to actively engage” over the trade deal that had been initially launched nearly a year ago when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Washington. Subsequently, the deal lost momentum as the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods, and has seen six official rounds of negotiations and three visits to the U.S. by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
- “Remember, India is the world’s largest nation, so it’s not an easy task to get this across the finish line, but we are determined to get there,” he said.
- India was not included in the original launch of “Pax Silica” in Washington in December, though fellow Quad members Japan and Australia, I2U2 countries, Israel and the UAE, and others including South Korea, Singapore, the U.K., and the Netherlands were invited.
Trump’s visit
- Mr. Gor said he hoped U.S. President Donald Trump would visit India “soon, hopefully in the next year or two”. Mr. Trump was expected to visit India last year to attend the Quad Summit, and India is hoping to host the summit this year.
Unconventional arrival
- The Ambassador’s statement, made to hundreds of U.S. Embassy staffers in Delhi and Indian media, was unconventional as Mr. Gor is expected to present his credentials later this week.
- According to diplomatic protocol, Ambassadors are expected to make public appearances only after the credentials are presented. Mr. Gor arrived at the Embassy with his Ambassadorial convoy, including a special armoured car with red and blue blinking lights.
- As he alighted, the Embassy officials who had gathered there more than two hours before, along with the press, greeted him with loud applause, and as he walked up the steps, a special playlist of songs, reportedly chosen by Mr. Gor, that included the 1960s soul song Hold on, I’m Coming and Mr. Trump’s favourite YMCA were played over loudspeakers.
- The ceremony, which included dozens of media outlets, was telecast live — a break from the past. His predecessor, Biden-appointee Eric Garcetti, had arrived to take up his assignment in a colourful autorickshaw in April 2023, but without the media or the large welcoming assembly.
- Mr. Gor begins with his tasks cut out, given spiralling ties between New Delhi and Washington, particularly over a number of statements, including Mr. Trump’s repeated claim that he mediated the India-Pakistan conflict in May 2025, which the government has strenuously denied.
- Last week, the External Affairs Ministry rejected a claim by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that the trade deal had fallen through as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not called Mr. Trump to finalise it, pointing out that the two leaders had spoken eight times during the year.
- Mr. Gor said that India-U.S. trade negotiators would hold another call.
- In addition, the government has been uncomfortable with the U.S. President’s contention that Mr. Modi had promised to cut India’s imports of Russian oil “to make him happy”, stressing that any decisions are led by market conditions.
Special envoy
- Mr. Gor, who has also been appointed Mr. Trump’s Special Envoy for South and Central Asia, has taken a few months to arrive, after being named for the post in August 2024, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October.
- Alongside bilateral issues, his travels in the region, particularly to Pakistan and Bangladesh, will be watched most closely in New Delhi.